Strategy for electromagnetic interconnect modeling

In order to design on-chip interconnect structures in a flexible way, a com puter-aided design approach Is advocated in three dimensions, describing hi gh-frequency effects such as current redistribution due to the skin effect or eddy currents and the occurrence of slow-wave modes. The electromagnetic environment is described by a scaler electric potential and a magnetic vec tor potential. These potentials are not uniquely defined and in order to ob tain a consistent discretization scheme, a gauge transformation field is In troduced. The displacement current is taken into account to describe curren t redistribution and a small-signal analysis solution scheme is proposed ba sed upon existing techniques for fields in semiconductors.